The Defense Ministry aims to keep troop levels within 3,700 men, including the engineering and medical corps currently operating in southern Iraq around Nasiriya. The ministry also wishes to set up a divisional command which would include reconstruction and civil affairs personnel, combat troops to provide security, and command personnel.

As for the 1,450 combat troops, plans are being considered that focus on Special Forces personnel, but also include personnel from the Marines, Army Rangers, and general infantry. It appears, however, that a fair number of the civil affairs personnel assigned to help civilians will actually be Special Forces personnel who have received civil affairs training, meaning that of the 3,230 men to be dispatched, more than half will be Special Forces. If Marines are deployed, it will be the second time since Vietnam that they have been sent abroad. The war against the Taliban in Afghanistan was the first.

The divisional command will take the form of a combined forces staff, including the Army, Navy, and Air Force. It will be the first time since the Vietnam War that such a command has been assembled. The headquarters will consist of about 600 to 700 men, including communications, transport and munitions personnel, and military police.

Defense Minister Cho's assertion that civilian experts would be going as well, however, was unexpected. Cho said the government is actively considering a plan to dispatch a 'humanitarian support team' composed mostly of civilian personnel from ministries such as the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE), the Ministry of Construction (MOC), and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to bolster the government's efforts to get reconstruction and relief efforts underway in Iraq.

Military authorities, speaking about the possibility of joint operations with foreign militaries, said that due to language and cultural differences, as well as problems owing to command, they were hoping for an independent Korean command structure. It is likely, however, that in coming discussions with the United States, the Pentagon will request that Korea allow hundreds of foreign soldiers into their command, focusing attention on the results of the talks.

After a region of deployment is selected, the Defense Ministry plans to send an advance team at the end of January to discuss plans for cooperation with local administrative bodies and with U.S. military authorities.

The Defense Ministry has narrowed the possible regions of deployment to four areas: Kirkuk and Mosul in the north, Tal Afar and Cayara in the northwest and southwest, and the Nasiriya area in the south, where medical and engineering units are currently deployed. Talks with the United States on the location of the dispatch are currently underway.

Of the possible regions, Kirkuk, located southeast of the northern city of Mosul, is reportedly the most likely spot to which Korean forces will be sent. A city of 950,000 people, 40 percent of whom are Kurds oppressed during Saddam Hussein's rule, Kirkuk is considered friendly to coalition forces. The area has about 40 percent of Iraq's oil, and Korea hopes to engage in vibrant economic cooperation with the region once the post-war reconstruction is completed.

Islamic fundamentalist groups that followed the Saddam regime have grown more active lately, with terrorist attacks increasing and security threats expected when Korean troops are dispatched.

Military authorities said that if the government's troop dispatch plan is approved by the National Assembly, it would take between 15 and 20 weeks to recruit volunteers, put together units, train them for local conditions, and conduct language and cultural training. They predicted that the deployment would take place around April next year. (Yu Yong-weon, kysu@chosun.com )